Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1964 Olympic Games took place between 17 and 18 October. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated. Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.
Medalists
Results
Heats
Heat 1| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Ginny Duenkel | 4:48.6 | ||
| 2 | Martina Grunert | 4:57.7 | ||
| 3 | Ineke Tigelaar | 5:01.8 | ||
| 4 | Barbara Hounsell | 5:04.9 | ||
| 5 | Tazuko Kikutani | 5:06.3 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Kim Herford | 4:49.8 | ||
| 2 | Ann-Charlotte Lilja | 4:52.3 | ||
| 3 | Patty Thompson | 5:06.7 | ||
| 4 | Pauline Sillett | 5:12.2 | ||
| 5 | Bep Weeteling | 5:13.0 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Liz Long | 4:54.5 | ||
| 2 | Daniela Beneck | 4:56.2 | ||
| 3 | Elisabeth Ljunggren-Morris | 4:57.0 | ||
| 4 | Jutta Wanke | 5:01.7 | ||
| 5 | Ann Lallande | 5:04.3 | ||
| 6 | Rita Pulido | 5:06.2 | ||
| 7 | Marilyn Sidelsky | 5:08.9 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Marilyn Ramenofsky | 4:47.7 | ||
| 2 | Dawn Fraser | 4:52.2 | ||
| 3 | Jane Hughes | 4:54.8 | ||
| 4 | Nataliya Bystrova | 5:05.0 | ||
| 5 | María Luisa Souza | 5:05.2 | ||
| 6 | Majvor Welander | 5:07.7 | ||
| 7 | Olga Belmar | 5:14.0 | ||
| 8 | Jovina Tseng | 5:46.0 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Terri Lee Stickles | 4:49.3 | ||
| 2 | Nanette Duncan | 4:55.2 | ||
| 3 | Kazue Hayakawa | 4:56.5 | ||
| 4 | Heidi Pechstein | 5:01.4 | ||
| 5 | Nataliya Mikhaylova | 5:08.0 | ||
| 6 | Im Geum-ja | 5:38.7 |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| Ginny Duenkel | 4:43.3 | OR | ||
| Marilyn Ramenofsky | 4:44.6 | |||
| Terri Stickles | 4:47.2 | |||
| 4 | Dawn Fraser | 4:47.6 | ||
| 5 | Jane Hughes | 4:50.9 | ||
| 6 | Liz Long | 4:52.0 | ||
| 7 | Kim Herford | 4:52.9 | ||
| 8 | Ann-Charlotte Lilja | 4:53.0 |
Key: OR = Olympic record